Next time you should turn the other cheek

Today we talked a lot about the phrase known as turning the other cheek. It is a phrase in Christian doctrine that refers to avoiding violence when confronted by an aggressor. In class we discussed if it was possible to follow all of Jesus’ ethics and we came to the conclusion that it was not. The main reason why we decided that it was difficult to obey Jesus’ principles was that they are not realistically useable in today’s society. Dr J. gave the example that if someone steals your pants, you are not going to give them your shirt. Even though we cannot use all of Jesus’ principles realistically in our lives, I feel we can use parts of them. Specifically, I believe the ideas based on the principle of turning the other cheek have, and will continue to be used successfully in society.

I think that people need to realize the benefits they can receive from using certain elements from the principle of turning the other cheek. I feel the most important element of this principle is the idea of pacifism. I think that if people responded to aggression by being passive then things would work out a lot better. People like Martin Luther King Jr. and Gandhi confronted problems by being passive instead of trying to solve situations with force. Martin Luther King Jr. said, "Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.” I believe that if people used this principle in their lives, things would work out a lot better for them. I feel a major way in which people can use this principle is in dealing with others. If I were in a situation involving others, where I wanted something to work out in my favor, this principle would be extremely useful. An example of this would be any situation with a roommate. This principle could come into play if I told my roommate not to drink the last soda in the fridge, but he did anyways. Most people in my position would get mad at my roommate and start an argument. The reason why I say this is because I have seen numerous experiences in my life where people have had heated arguments over small issues such as my example. What people do not realize is that situations would work out much better if they avoided an argument all together.

Being passive in these types of situations works great because fighting negativity with negativity will not accomplish anything. If someone confronted me and called me a loser, saying something negative back will not accomplish anything. All that will happen is the negativity will be escalated until we get into a more intense argument or even a physical altercation. On the other hand, if I acted passive and kept positive then things would have worked out much better. Many people that I know will get into bad situations because they lack passiveness. Most people would be surprised once they realized how common this lack of passivity is in people’s lives. The other day, one of my friends received a message on his Facebook from someone we both knew in high school; he was a person that used to bully my friend a lot in high school. This other person saw my friend in person and was friendly, but his message said that things have not changed from high school, and he said many insulting things to my friend. My friend told me what happened, then he said that he responded with his own insults towards the other person; I was not surprised when he then told me how the situation escalated and he received negative messages from others. He was extremely upset and wanted my advice. I could not give him advice because he should not have responded to the insults in the first place. This situation basically describes my friends high school experience; he could never back down from any insults and this only caused him to be more hated. If he just turned the other cheek and ignored his aggressors then things in his life would be working out a lot better.

People like my friend have shown me the importance of turning the other cheek and that the principle needs to be used more often. For some reason, humans seem to want to win confrontations because they feel like they are losing if they act passively. I feel this way because I used to be a person who avoided acting passively. It is difficult to avoid responding to an aggressor because acting passively feels like you are backing down from a challenge. Even though it is difficult in most cases, people need to realize the benefits of turning the other cheek; backing down is well worth it.

Is there any situations in life when you should not act passively towards aggressors? And, If so, when should you not act passively?